


Never Change

by captainamergirl



Category: Beverly Hills 90210 (1990), One Life to Live
Genre: F/M, Gina and Dylan, Gylan, Love Triangles, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28038576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Dylan McKay never changes, but he might have no choice this time if he wants to win back Gina's love.
Relationships: Gina Kincaid/Dylan McKay, John McBain/Gina Kincaid





	1. Oh How the Years Go By

**1 - Oh How the Years Go By**  
  
“Oh god, Donna, he’s so precious!” Gina said as she cooed at the little boy Donna was holding in her arms. His name was curiously Travis Davis of all things. Where Donna and David had come up with that name Gina had no idea but wasn’t about to criticize their choice when Donna’s hormones were apparently still raging.  
  
Donna nodded. “Thanks. I’m so glad he’s finally here. After the two miscarriages, we didn’t think …” Donna’s voice trailed off as her eyes filled with tears. “God I’m sorry, I’m such a mess. New mother nerves and all that.”  
  
“I bet but you’re doing a great job with TD already.”  
  
“TD?” Donna echoed, pulling a face.  
  
“Sure all cool kids have nicknames,” Gina explained.  
  
“Let’s wait till he’s old enough to pick one for himself,” Donna said. She reached out and squeezed Gina’s hand lightly. “Anyway, I’m so glad you’re here. I know things have been hectic since you started your new job.”  
  
“Yeah they have been, but I’d always make time for this little guy.” Gina leaned over and lightly rubbed the little boy’s pink hand until he locked his pinky around her larger one. She smiled in spite of herself. She had never been very fond of kids but Travis was a keeper.  
  
“Do you want to hold him?” Donna asked.  
  
Gina looked alarmed at the very suggestion. “Me?! Hell no – I mean - sorry TD, cover your ears- heck no. I am no good with babies. I am okay with them until they’re actually in my arms and then I get all nervous so they get nervous and before long you can’t tell who’s more hysterical – the baby or me.”  
  
“C’mon, Gina, I bet you’re a natural.”  
  
Gina begged off. “Thanks … But I think I hear David calling for help with the potato salad,” she said and ran off.  
  
She sprinted into the kitchen only to find Kelly Taylor of all people standing there holding a little boy’s hand. “Who is this?” Gina asked.  
  
“My name is Sammy,” the little blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy answered and offered Gina a big, gap-toothed smile.  
  
“Nice to meet you, Sammy,” Gina said. Then she looked over at Kelly. “Kelly,” she said simply.  
  
“Gina.”  
  
They started to maneuver around each other and Gina slipped up onto the counter and popped a grape in her mouth trying to look nonchalant as she did so. As soon as Kelly was gone, she ran outside and pounced on David.  
  
“David, whose Sammy’s father?”  
  
David looked down at his feet, up at the sky, everywhere but in Gina’s eyes. Gina’s heart sunk into her toes despite her resolve not to give a damn about Dylan McKay anymore.  
  
“He’s Dylan’s, isn’t he?”  
  
David just nodded. “Oh Christ,” Gina said. “Dylan as a daddy. Who would ever have to thunk it?” She tried to ignore the sick feeling that had settled in her stomach as she thought of how Dylan and Kelly now had a child, a legacy, to pay tribute to their “epic love story”. _Yuck._ It was bad enough picturing them in bed together but making a baby – even one as cute as Sammy – disgusted her.  
  
Gina dropped down onto the picnic table. “So …”  
  
“So,” David said as he continued flipping burgers on the grill.  
  
“Yeah …”  
  
David looked at his sister-in-law and frowned. “You might as well ask me.”  
  
“Ask you what?”  
  
“Whatever it is you are wondering about Dylan – and Kelly.”  
  
Gina felt ridiculously transparent but went on to ask David anyway, “So are Kelly and Dylan still together?”  
  
David shook his head. “No. They haven’t been together for a few years now.”  
  
“Oh …” Gina said, trying not to smile. “Well is he um, coming today?”  
  
“I think so but with Dylan, you never can be sure.”  
  
“Boy do I know that,” Gina said. “He is about as predictable as a tsunami.”  
  
“And moody as one too,” David said.  
  
Gina laughed. “What does that mean?”  
  
“Never mind,” David said waving his hand. “Will you go get the deviled eggs from the fridge?”  
  
“Sure,” Gina said and hopped to her feet. She didn’t relish the idea of playing errand girl on her day off but it was better than sitting there trying to drill David for information that was not hers to know.  
  
She went back into the kitchen and retrieved the heaping plate of deviled eggs. She considered tasting one but then decided not to press her luck. She walked back towards the yard and about dropped the whole platter on the ground when she spotted Dylan McKay in the flesh standing not ten feet away. He turned as if he felt her eyes drilling into him and offered her a slightly sheepish smile.  
  
“Gina,” he said simply in greeting.  
  
 _“Dylan …”_


	2. Daddy Issues

**2 - Daddy Issues**  
  
“Gina,” he says simply.  
  
“Dylan …” She says back.  
  
"How are you?" They both say at the same time and laugh a bit about it. Gina does remember well that despite his apparent lack of a humor gene, Dylan's antics like picking her up and carrying her out of a restaurant often left her in stitches.  
  
But along with those memories comes the bad ones, like witnessing the many times he left her for Kelly, being party to his drug use, feeling like he was using her, and the ultimate insult - she told him she loved him and he couldn't say it back.  
  
Her cheeks tinged with a little color as the good and bad memories assail her. She believes she has moved on and left Dylan and her feelings in the past but she's not so sure now that he's actually there in the flesh looking gorgeous and sexy as hell even in his restrained manner.  
  
"I'm fine," Gina said. "I hope you've been good too."  
  
"I have been for the most part," he says.  
  
"I met your son Sammy," she says waiting for his reaction.  
  
He just sighs. "He's here?"  
  
"Yeah. With his mom," Gina says, waiting for that reaction as well.  
  
Again he sighs. "What is the purpose of this party anyway?" He asks.  
  
Gina rolls her eyes. "To celebrate the birth of my nephew," she says pointedly. "Are you high or something?"  
  
He chuckles softly. "No. I have been clean for over a year now."  
  
Gina cannot deny that she is impressed. She just wishes he would have cleaned up for her so that their relationship felt less like a bad acid trip and more like a well, relationship. But she doesn't say that because she feels after ten years she has finally moved on and besides, she always accepted him in the past and isn't about to start looking down on him now.  
  
"Congratulations, Dylan," she says.  
  
"Thanks ..."  
  
"So what keeps you busy these days?"  
  
"Why so many questions?"  
  
"Humor me, I'm bored waiting for the burgers to be done."  
  
"Wow, you actually eat now?" He says with a hint of humor in his voice.  
  
She should slap him for that comment but just offers a smile that belies the hurt he is still capable of inflicting on her with his thoughtless words. "I eat plenty," she said. "I have gained ten pounds in the last three months."  
  
He looks her over appreciatively. "You couldn't tell by me ..."  
  
David walks by and clears his throat loudly. "Did someone call for burgers?"  
  
"I did," Gina answers and runs over to get one fresh from David's master grill.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Gina sits down at the picnic table and to her surprise, Sammy joins her. "Hello," she says, feeling uncomfortable with Kelly standing just fifteen feet away watching them with a bitchy expression on her face. Gina secretly marvels that some things never change.  
  
"Hey," Sammy says. "I saw you talkin' to my daddy."  
  
"Uh-huh ..." She says as if to ask, so what's your point?  
  
"He's all the way across the 'ard. Can you ask him to sit wid me?"  
  
Gina feels shocked, wondering if Kelly put her son up to this as some kind of trick but then sees the sincerity in Sammy's wide blue eyes. "I guess I'll go get him. Be right back."  
  
Gina strides past Kelly and right over to Dylan. "You have a son who's missing you right about now," she says pointedly.  
  
Dylan looks up at her. "I'll talk to him soon."  
  
"No, you'll talk to him now. You are acting like a classic deadbeat dad."  
  
"That's because I am a deadbeat dad."  
  
Gina grimaces. "It's not too late to change, now come on!"  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Later, almost everyone has gone home and Gina offers, almost against her own will, to stay and wash the dishes so Donna can rest. David agrees whole-heartedly, not wanting to be stiffed with a huge lot of dirty plates and cups.  
  
Gina notices Dylan walk into the kitchen holding a beer. He hops up onto the counter across from her. "Sammy likes you," he says.  
  
Gina smiles thinly. "What's not to like? I'm actually nice to him."  
  
He snorts. "Are you implying that I'm not nice to my own son?"  
  
"I had to practically corral you to sit with him."  
  
"The situation is more complicated than you realize," Dylan says taking a long swig of beer.  
  
Gina nods. "Well as you can see here I have about a million dishes to do so I've got the time to listen."  
  
"I'd rather talk about something else."  
  
Gina shook her head. "Oh no way, start talking, Dylan!"


	3. Changing Lanes

**3 -Changing Lanes**  
  
Dylan sighed then said, “I’d so much rather talk about you. How do you like being a new aunt to Trevor David?”  
  
Gina rolled her eyes. “Nice way to deflect and his name is _Travis Davis_ , not Trevor David. Are you sure you’re not high?”  
  
“I’m absolutely sure,” he said. “I have much less severe vices now.”  
  
“Like what?”  
  
His lips turned up slightly in a lazy smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”  
  
“Why are you being so secretive?” She asked as she worked hard to scrub some grease off a pan. Boy did she hate menial labor.  
  
“I am not being secretive.”  
  
“Vague, then.” She snorted. “Some things never change.”  
  
“Yeah … So do you live down here now?”  
  
“Not in Beverly Hills, no, but in California, yes.”  
  
“Now who’s being vague?”  
  
“I live and work in Costa Mesa. I’m the channel 7 meteorologist.”  
  
“Meteorologist?” He smirked.  
  
She blushed. “Weather girl,” she explained.  
  
“Wow you’re moving on up,” Dylan said. “Congratulations.”  
  
“Thanks,” she said. She turned to look at him. “So are you going to help me with these dishes or what? I have like a million left.”  
  
“Nah, you’re doing a good job.”  
  
“Don’t make me smack you!” Gina said but she was smiling.  
  
“Okay but on one condition.”  
  
“What’s that?”  
  
“You wash, I dry.”  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Finally after what seemed like hours later – but was in actuality, only thirty minutes – Gina and Dylan finished the dishes. They said their goodbyes to Donna and David, Gina kissed her new nephew, and they walked out to their cars.  
  
Dylan thought better of it and walked over and took the car keys from Gina’s hand. “What do you say I drive you home? It’s a long way to Costa Mesa and it’s late.”  
  
“I think I can make it. It’s only a thirty minute drive when there’s not a lot of traffic.”  
  
“Come on - for old time’s sake.”  
  
Gina sighed. “I’ll pass. Now give me my keys.”  
  
Dylan reluctantly handed them over. “We should get together and hang out sometime.”  
  
“I don’t think so.”  
  
Dylan’s quirked an eyebrow. “Why not?”  
  
“Because I know what your version of ‘hanging out’ really means,” Gina said.  
  
Dylan laughed a nice, lazy, easy sound. “We don’t have to do anything.”  
  
Gina rolled her eyes. “I’ll say yes if I can bring someone.”  
  
Dylan looked suspicious and simply asked, “Who?”  
  
Gina looked down at her shoes and scuffed the pavement with the heel of her Donna Karan shoes. She had gotten them for half price and loved them but suddenly they were even more interesting to her than before as she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of them.  
  
Finally she said, “My fiancé.”  
  
Dylan sputtered. “You’re putting me on.”  
  
Gina looked up then glaring at him. “Is it so hard to believe a man could want me? Bitchy old me?”  
  
“It's not that …”  
  
“Oh, you just think I spent the past ten years pining for you?” she demanded. "Because I haven’t.”  
  
“Who is this guy? Do I know him?”  
  
“Actually, Dylan …”


	4. Of Exes and New Flames

**4 - Of Exes and New Flames**  
  
“Who is your fiancé? Do I know him?”  
  
“Actually, Dylan, you don’t know him and chances are you never will.”  
  
“Why is that?” Dylan asked with a smirk. “You don’t trust me not to punch him in the face if we meet?”  
  
Gina shook her head. “No, I think he’d do it to you first.”  
  
Dylan leaned back against her Jetta with his arms crossed, watching her intently like he had not a care in the whole world. “So what’s this fairytale prince like who has captured your heart?”  
  
Gina sighed and reached for her keys ripping them out of his hand. “Why do you give a shit anyway?”  
  
“Just curious,” Dylan said with a nonchalant shrug.  
  
“You never change, McKay,” Gina said. “Still playing games with people’s heads.”  
  
“What? How am I doing that?”  
  
“Acting like you are interested in my life because now that I’m unavailable I am that much more intriguing.”  
  
“What if I am just plain interested in you?”  
  
Gina’s skin prickled with warmth at his words. He looked serious and she almost believed him but she then realized she knew better. Dylan didn’t know the meaning of the word “commitment” let alone the meaning of the words, “stay faithful to your partner.”  
  
“In that case I say you are full of shit.”  
  
He just laughed. “Same old tough-as-nails Gina Kincaid.”  
  
“Same old bastard Dylan McKay ... Look I’ve got to get going. My _fiancé_ is eagerly awaiting my return to _our_ place.”  
  
Dylan stepped aside. “Fine. Far be it for me to stand in the way of ‘true love’.”  
  
She felt like smacking him just about then but instead unlocked her car, jumped into it and sped off like hell itself was on her heels.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
The next morning, the ringing of the telephone woke Gina up at seven a.m. She rolled over in bed and grabbed the cordless before it could wake up John who had had an extremely long day at the precinct yesterday and needed his rest.  
  
She picked him up and whispered, “Hello?”  
  
“Gina! How could you? _HOW COULD YOU?!”_  
  
Gina rolled her eyes, recognizing the voice immediately. “How could I what, Donna?”  
  
“How could you not tell me you’re ENGAGED?!” Donna demanded.  
  
Gina looked over at John who was beginning to stir in bed. She quickly threw back the covers and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. “Okay, Donna, first of all calm the hell down and stop screaming in my ear. Second of all, I was going to get around to it eventually …”  
  
“You told Dylan!” Donna said in an accusatory voice.  
  
“Of course he had to tell you and spoil the surprise.”  
  
“What surprise?”  
  
“I was uh … planning to take you and David out to dinner tonight so I could tell you the news in person. John would come of course.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
Gina swallowed. She really hated lying to her sister after they had finally come to a good place in their relationship. “Uh huh …”  
  
“Ohmigod that is so sweet! But I actually have a better idea. Why don’t you bring this guy John over to the house and we’ll have another barbeque?”  
  
“Donna, I don’t think I could eat another burger in such a short span of time or I’ll like gain fifty pounds!”  
  
“Oh please! You are coming tonight and that’s final. I can’t wait to meet John.”  
  
“Okay but it’s just going to be the four of us, right? You, me, John and David? I mean, no Kelly or …”  
  
“Dylan? No. He won’t want to come and even though I think you two belong together –“  
  
“Since when?” Gina asked rolling her eyes.  
  
“Since I’ve had a long, long time to think over the past few years and realized that you made Dylan happy and he made you happy.”  
  
“Uh huh … And how would Kelly feel if she knew her bestest best friend in the whole world was saying these things?”  
  
“I’ve already told her that I think she needs to move on from Dylan. That their relationship became poisonous over time but the heart wants what the heart wants.”  
  
“Yeah and Dylan wants Kelly.”  
  
“Of course he does! That’s why they _aren’t_ together anymore,” Donna said facetiously.  
  
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that junk …”  
  
“Has it in your case?”  
  
Gina groaned. “Stop grilling me, Donna! I will bring John tonight if you cross your heart and hope to die and promise me there is no way Dylan will show up at your house tonight.”  
  
“He won’t, okay?” Donna said with a bored sigh. “I’ll see you and John at seven, okay?”  
  
“Yeah, okay. Bye.”  
  
They disconnected and Gina opened the door, walking out of the bathroom to find John sitting up in bed stretching. “Hey, sleepyhead,” she greeted him.  
  
He smiled a little sheepishly. “Hey.”  
  
She walked over and climbed onto his lap, straddling him. “How do you feel about meeting my family tonight?”  
  
"Do I have a choice in the matter?"  
  
She shook her head and kissed him softly on the lips, running her fingers through his shaggy dark hair.  
  
"In that case, I can't say no."


	5. Uninvited Guest

**5 – Uninvited Guest**  
  
“So give me a run-down on your family again,” John said as he navigated Los Angeles traffic at six p.m. that evening. As always, it was bumper-to-bumper so John had time to slide his hand off the wheel and fondle her leg through her jeans. When they had first met, he was far from demonstrative - not a very touchy-feely type at all. Hell, he still wasn’t, but sometimes he surprised her. Okay, he often did – in really good ways. He was stoic and calm and reassuring, and that’s what she needed most in her life.  
  
“Okay, well, Donna is my cousin and my half-sister at the same time. Her mom and my mom are sisters.”  
  
“And Donna’s Dad was also your biological father, right?”  
  
Gina nodded, shifting on the seat for a moment and looking out the window. “Yeah, John Martin… I called him ‘Uncle John’ for the longest time… I still can’t believe he's gone... I never really knew him that way.”  
  
“As a father?” John said, squeezing her knee this time.  
  
“Right,” Gina said. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Anyway, for awhile there I lived to make Donna miserable. I was kind of a bitch to her.”  
  
“You? No way,” John said with a lift of the corners of his beautiful mouth.  
  
“Hey!” Gina said. But she was glad to see him smiling. He was so serious at times. Hell, she’d once accused him of being born without a funny bone.  
  
“I wasn’t implying-"  
  
“Sure you weren’t,” Gina said but she grinned. “I admit it, okay? I was horrible to Donna. I was so freaking jealous of her.”  
  
“And now?”  
  
“Only mildly so,” Gina said. “I mean, I am jealous because she’s got direction and she always has this thing about her … Like, she knows her grand purpose in life. She always does the right thing. I don’t, and I wouldn’t begin to know how.”  
  
“Don’t say that.”  
  
“It’s true, John. I am fucked up on a good day… But anyway… about my family. There’s David and Donna’s little baby boy, Travis. He’s the apple of their eye and he’s so adorable with those pink, chubby cheeks. And he's smiled at me a few times. Sure Donna says he’s too young to do that, but I know better.”  
  
John just smirked. Gina smacked his arm. “I do. Anyway, he’s precious. The best thing David ever did. He’s mostly all Donna though, thank God.”  
  
“Wait. You don’t like David?”  
  
“No, I do. I used to like him _a lot._ Okay I liked him as a way to punish Donna but he’s a good guy, in general.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“Hmm... I shouldn’t say anything but I have to tell someone. See, Donna had two miscarriages before TD – Travis Davis – was conceived. Well, after the second one, David and Donna’s marriage was on the verge of total blow out. They couldn’t deal – they were fighting a lot. One night they had a big throw down basically and David went out and kissed some random bitch at a bar. Of course he told Donna right away and begged her forgiveness and she accepted his apologies. She’s better than me because she forgave him. But there’s a part of me that can’t forgive him like, on her behalf. And if he ever hurts her again-“  
  
“Spoken like a protective little sister.”  
  
Gina smiled a little. “Like I said, I used to want Donna to be miserable but after our dad died… That feeling went away. Still, I didn’t think we’d ever be close until Donna confided in me about what David did. She never even told her ‘bestie’ Kelly- probably because Kelly is David’s stepsister. And she’s got a really big mouth…”  
  
Gina continued on. “Donna made me promise not to brain David and I finally realized something. She trusted me enough to tell me something so heartbreakingly, deeply personal… We were finally, truly sisters in every way. I resolved then and there not to try to hurt her ever again. I want to keep that promise, John. I never want to cause her anymore pain.”  
  
“You’re a damn good person, Gina Kincaid.”  
  
“No really, I am not.”  
  
“You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’ve matured, changed, grown up. It’s admirable.”  
  
“You might not have liked the ‘old’ Gina.”  
  
“I bet that’s not true. I just … like you, Gina.”  
  
Gina leaned over and kissed his cheek softly. “I like you too, John. And I like who I am with you.”  
  
“Then that’s all I can ask for.” John pointed ahead. “Here’s our exit.”  
  
Traffic finally moved and they arrived at the turnoff into Beverly Hills.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Gina and John arrived at Casa Silver in the next ten minutes. Introductions were made all around and John was warmly welcomed into the fold. David had the grill already fired up and was cooking fat steaks on the barbeque. He wore a goofy apron that said “Kiss the Cook” and Gina felt obligated to make fun of him for it. David finally, in exasperation, just waved her away.  
  
She went to stand beside John who was on the patio, watching the sun dip into the sky as he nursed a beer. He was an All-American guy, a guy’s guy. Nothing imported for him; nothing bubbly or foofy. Gina had mixed up margaritas but knew better than to offer some to that no-frills boyfriend of hers. It felt good – having a boyfriend again, and one as strong and sexy as John McBain was.  
  
“Having fun yet?” She asked, nudging him with her slender shoulder.  
  
John just nodded and took another sip of his beer. “David and Donna seem nice and your nephew – He’s pretty cute.”  
  
Gina laughed. “Did you just call someone ‘cute’? I didn’t think that word was in your vocabulary.”  
  
“Hey now. If the baby booties fit…”  
  
Gina laughed again. “So your funny bone exists, after all.” She stepped in front of him and when David walked inside – Donna was calling to him – she kissed John flush on the mouth. His hands played in the tendrils of her thick, black hair and he kissed her with equal fervor. He only broke the kiss when he noticed David coming back outside, carrying a tub of homemade potato salad with him.  
  
Gina wiped her rouge lipstick off of the collar of John’s blue button-down. “To be continued,” she whispered, a sexy promise evident in her quiet words.  
  
John just smirked at her before looping his arm around her tiny waist. Gina snuggled into him, enjoying the warmth of his body next to hers. They stood that way until they heard someone clearing their throat loudly and pointedly. Gina and John turned around, as did David. Gina’s mouth dropped open.  
  
 _“Dylan!”_ She spat. She looked at David. “Is this some kind of ambush?”  
  
“I didn’t-“ David started to say but broke off as he saw his wife coming down the steps, a gurgling Travis on her hip.  
  
Donna looked at Gina apologetically and John looked between them curiously.  
  
Dylan spoke up. “Don’t worry, Gina. They didn’t invite me.”  
  
“And yet here you are,” Gina said in an acidic tone of voice.  
  
“I just came to visit Trevor David.”  
  
 _“Travis Davis!”_ Gina corrected him. Donna and David did as well, though in much less hostile voices.  
  
“I’m his godfather, Gina – well one of them.”  
  
“And a completely sucky one at that. You don’t even know his real name,” Gina spat.  
  
“Gina –“  
  
“I’m not going to stand here and argue, Dylan. Either you leave now, or John and I will.”  
  
Dylan zeroed in on John standing awkwardly next to Gina, hands now on his hips.  
  
“So this is the guy?” Dylan said as he sized John up and obviously found him lacking.  
  
“Dylan,” Donna whispered in warning.  
  
John stepped forward, leveling Dylan with a stare. “Okay, you obviously know about me but I haven’t had the dubious pleasure of hearing a single thing about you.”  
  
Dylan scoffed. “So you want to know about me? I’m the guy who came before you; the one who had Gina first.”  
  
Gina burned with indignation. She stomped over to Dylan and slapped him hard across the face. He rubbed his cheek. “You piece of shit. Why are you always trying to ruin my life, Dylan?”  
  
Gina then turned and marched into the house. She went to the bathroom and locked herself inside. She rested her tiny hands on the sink and stared hard at herself in the lighted mirror. She cringed. She was flushed; her skin scarlet-red. There was a storm of unmistakable emotion in her eyes. Dylan wasn’t supposed to evoke emotion in her anymore – not even anger. He wasn’t supposed to affect her in any way at all.  
  
She heard a knock on the door and she barked out, “Dylan, if that’s you, I swear to God-“  
  
“It’s not, Gina. It’s your sister.”  
  
“Oh goodie.”  
  
“Can you let me in?”  
  
“No!”  
  
“C’mon, Gina. I swear that neither David nor I had any idea that Dylan was going to show up. Now please open the door and let me make sure you’re okay.”  
  
“I’m fine!” Gina snapped but she turned and ripped the door open, yanking Donna inside before bolting it after them.  
  
“You don’t seem fine,” Donna said as she gazed at Gina. She pulled her sister into a fierce hug. Gina struggled against the embrace but eventually succumbed as Donna refused to let go. She was much, much stronger than she looked.  
  
“Talk to me, Gina,” Donna said. “Tell me what you’re feeling.”  
  
“I’m feeling pissed! Pissed as fuck!” Gina said. Tears suddenly began to fall unbidden down her cheeks.  
  
“What are you most pissed about? That Dylan crashed our barbeque or that you still have feelings for him after all this time?”  
  
“I do not have feelings for him,” Gina said. “I do not. He just –“  
  
“Gets to you like no one else.”  
  
“Yes, God! Yes.” Tears continued to roll down her face. Donna grabbed a box of tissues off the counter and shoved it into Gina’s trembling hand.  
  
“I hate him, Donna. I hate him – everything he is and everything he represents. Most of all, I hate that he still gets to me. I hate it so much.”  
  
Donna took a tissue from the box and dabbed at Gina’s wet face. “I know, honey, I know. Believe me I know.”


	6. Accidentally on Purpose

**6 – Accidentally on Purpose**  
  
“I’m better,” Gina said after she had splashed copious amounts of cold water on her face.  
  
Donna looked at her, not appearing too sure of that. “It’s okay if you’re not-“  
  
“I am okay! Didn’t you hear me?” Gina hollered. She saw the expression on Donna’s face and immediately apologized. “Sorry. God, I’m sorry.”  
  
“Don’t worry. You’re upset. It’s understandable.”  
  
“I – I just didn’t expect this. Any of it.”  
  
“I know… Just know that we didn’t invite him. I don’t know he came to be here just when you showed up with John.”  
  
“Oh, John. He probably thinks I am a huge ass flake. And that I care what Dylan says.” Gina sighed. “I do care though - that’s the worst part. John, he’s so amazing to me. How can I – how can I-”  
  
“Have feelings for two men?”  
  
“YES!” Gina said. “I can barely juggle one but two—“  
  
“Trust me, I’ve been there,” Donna said. “When I was dating Noah Hunter…”  
  
“You still loved David?”  
  
“Yes. He was first in my heart, always. He always will be.”  
  
“So the moral of this story is…?”  
  
“You can’t help who you love,” Donna said. She reached out and squeezed Gina’s slender shoulders. “The point is that no matter what you decide, no matter who you decide to be with, if either... Well, just know that you have David and me in your corner.”  
  
“Thanks, but there is nothing to decide,” Gina said. “I have John. I adore John. He’s amazing to me and I would never trade certainty for a 'maybe' life with Dylan fucking McKay.”  
  
“I just want you to be happy.”  
  
“I am. Deliriously,” Gina lied. “Deliriously happy and very smitten with John McBain.”  
  
Donna nodded. “Should we go back out there? I will send Dylan away. In fact, I’m sure that David already has.”  
  
“Okay,” Gina said. She watched as Donna opened the door and then followed her sister out. They were almost to the back door when they spotted Dylan stalking through the house.  
  
Gina gritted her teeth. “Dylan, what the hell are you still doing here?” She spat.  
  
He looked at her and gestured to his fat, bloody lip. “Don’t worry. I’m leaving.”  
  
Gina couldn’t resist smiling. “John has a mean left hook, doesn’t he?”  
  
Dylan just rolled his eyes and giving her one last look that she couldn’t read, he walked out. Gina sighed with relief but inwardly, if she were honest with herself, she would have to admit that there was a part of her that already missed the sight of him. She wished he would fight for her even as she knew, he never, ever would.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
The barbeque was awkward thereafter. David and Donna tried to engage John and Gina in conversation but she wasn’t up for it really and John’s answers were monosyllabic at best. Gina offered to help clean up when dinner was over but Donna said “no, no way” this time.  
  
Gina knew that it was almost time to head home; to begin the long trek back to Costa Mesa. She wasn’t looking forward to it. She knew instinctively that she and John wouldn’t argue; that they just wouldn’t talk at all, and in her estimation, silence was the loudest kind of scream.  
  
She found David tucking Travis into his crib as she went to say "goodnight”. The baby was asleep, his tiny thumb tucked firmly in his mouth. Gina decided that he was the most precious thing she’d ever seen. She also decided that there was no way she would ever have children. She would only screw them up the way her mother had her. Gina was a mess. She knew that and she despised it. How she wished she could be like her sister in every way.  
  
David was smiling fondly at his son. “He’s so cute,” Gina spoke up.  
  
“He is,” David agreed with a proud grin.  
  
“He doesn’t look much like you,” Gina said, only half-teasingly. She had meant it when she said some part would never forgive David for stepping out, even briefly, on her sister. Why were men like that anyway? Why could they never be true or honest? Yet somehow, they expected their women to be.  
  
David sobered a bit. “Lucky him,” he said. He turned to look at Gina. “I just want you to know that I didn’t invite Dylan here tonight. I think I accidentally mentioned you were coming over but I did not invite him.”  
  
“Oh 'accidentally',” Gina sniffed. “Look. Whatever. It doesn’t matter now. I am glad John popped him one.”  
  
“Me too, actually,” David said. “Dylan can’t go around making you feel like crap. It’s not fair and it’s not right.”  
  
Gina stared at David in surprise. He actually looked sincere and there was a part of Gina that forgave him a tiny bit for hurting her sister so badly. At least he was sorry. At least he had tried to make amends. That was more than Dylan McKay had ever done.  
  
XoXoxo  
  
A bit later, everyone had said their goodbyes and it was time for John and Gina to head home. Gina felt nervous as she climbed into the passenger seat of the car. Donna waved to her, as did David, and then they were off.  
  
“That was …. Interesting, huh?” Gina tried. John just nodded and she knew it would be harder to get him to converse with her than getting blood from a turnip, or however that stupid cliché went.  
  
“John,” she tried again. He glanced at her and she sighed. “Don’t do it,” she said softly.  
  
“Do what?” He asked, finally speaking.  
  
“Shut down on me,” Gina said. “Cause that’s what Dylan always did, whenever things got tough, and I just – I just don’t want that from you. Never you.”  
  
John looked at her again and nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-“  
  
“It’s okay. I can’t really blame you. I just would rather that you yelled at me than pushed me away or gave me the silent treatment. I hate silence. I hate what it means. Growing up, when my mom and I weren’t fighting, there was a lot of silence in my house. It freaks me out which is why I am always talking a lot. Which I am doing now. Stop me when it gets really annoying…”  
  
“It’s okay,” John said. The corners of his lips lifted a bit. “It’s kind of cute.”  
  
Gina smiled. “Wait, did you say ‘cute’ – again?”  
  
“What can I say? You have an odd affect on me.”  
  
Gina smiled. “You’re a good man, John.”  
  
John shrugged sheepishly and Gina smiled. She reached over and grabbed his hand. She threaded their fingers as he drove.  
  
They chatted quietly the rest of the way home. John McBain did the one thing for her Dylan McKay never did – considered her feelings and tried to be what she needed. There was a huge part of her that was falling hard for John. But there was a bigger part of her that still belonged to Dylan, even if he had never actually belonged to her.


End file.
